User blog:Cagneyg/Week Two
Week two started with a presentation of ideas between Niamh, Rich and I on Monday. I proposed the Mad Scientist Tea Party as a take on the chapter 'A Mad Tea Party'. The idea really took off and by the end of the meeting we had expanded the idea significantly. We spoke about creating an overriding narrative of the table; imagining the entire scene as a conversation over tea between Einstein and Carroll. All the objects will relate to one or the other, or hopefully they will each illustrate an amalgamation of the two. We highlighted time and gravity as two common strands that flow throughout the two texts. GR is very scientific whereas AW is literary and imaginative. But Carroll’s background as a mathematician is very clear in his writing. Rich and I also filled out an application for some funding on Tuesday and Wednesday to help us acquire all the things we are going to need. We worked on a description of the project which really helped us clarify our “vision” (see end of post). The whole group met with Susan on Thursday to discuss our ideas. She said we should ask ourselves some questions: *How will the final product look? *How will people interact with it? *What is the lifespan of the project? We also spoke about some team goals: *Creating an ongoing “mood board”, gathering ephemera (for next meeting on Tuesday). *Creating a team identity (blog, description… etc). *Meetings with Susan will be conducted as work in generated. *Keeping track of our ideas online. Description from application: “The project is inspired by the anniversaries of the first publication of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” (150 years in 2015) and Einstein's Theory of General Relativity (100 years in 2016). The initial research for this project has been undertaken under the inclination that there are many common threads of intrigue between the story of Alice and the theory of General Relativity. In particular, both explore the relationships between time and gravity; one in a literary and the other in a scientific manner. We would like to propose our project as a visual exploration of these themes. Re-imagining the famous “Tea Party” scene, this project will be realised through an interactive installation piece consisting of a large table, laid with a series of bespoke oddments and objects; none of which are what they seem. Using sensors and Arduinos, everyday objects will be transformed into a dynamic and reactive spread with which visitors may interact. For example, how might a black hole look, captured within a sugar bowl? Alice herself encapsulates it perfectly when she says that “... nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't.” If Carroll and Einstein had tea together on the grounds of Trinity College Wonderland, what might they talk about? If we were invited, could we possibly contribute? Or would it all descend into nonsense. We propose this project as a physical representation of how such conversations might appear. Each object will have a distinct purpose, encompassing an aspect of each contributor and the interplay between their work, in a way that invites viewers to explore the piece in a tactile way. This project is proposed as a summer project for the M.Sc. Interactive Digital Media. Due to the nature of our course, it is important for us to incorporate a wide variety of the themes we have been exposed to throughout the year. The piece will have a clear interactive narrative, there will be elements of construction and coding throughout and it will interpret two cultural and historical icons through contemporary digital technology. Using a large table (6-10 place settings) and chairs as the basic framework for our design, viewers will be invited to become participants of the Tea Party and all of its curious delights. Aesthetically, this project will be determined by the types of objects and equipment we have access to as team. We will require an arsenal of objects (bric-a-brac, cake stands, crockery, cutlery, ornaments, tins, jars etc.) which we intend to search for in charity shops and car boot sales, in order to find objects with character. We will also require parts for transforming these objects (Arduino boards, Raspberry Pi, shields like Galileo or Edison, batteries, wires, LCD screens, project boxes, speakers etc.) Furthermore, we are considering the use of wearable technology, built into costumes, such as hats or jackets that may be worn by visitors while interacting with the work. Through the School of Computer Science we have some limited access to some of these technological requirements.” Category:Blog posts